


Tangled TimmVerse

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Animated)
Genre: Multi, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-28
Updated: 2009-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1219087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when an emissary of Truth and a reporter put pieces together</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tangled TimmVerse

**Author's Note:**

> Originally told as a serial of fic-bits, all in one now

Lois was the first one to stiffen as she saw the couple, her sudden tension making Clark look down at her, then out, following her gaze.

Bruce Wayne was escorting Diana into the cotillion, looking his charming self with a smug smile betraying what a coup this was.

"How does he expect to hide who he is if he dates her?" Lois said very, very low under her breath. Clark just chuckled.

"It fits his playboy image to be the one who tries to 'corrupt' the innocent princess," Clark pointed out as Bruce kept Diana very close through the various introductions.

"Like she couldn't break him in half if she wanted."

"He has a history of that type," Clark said, hardly realizing he had, and making Lois wonder just who Gotham's own vigilante had been playing footsie with in the past.

* * *

There were so many reasons they should not be doing this. Bruce could list them in order of magnitude or alphabetically.

All his protests had been silenced by nearly losing her in the incident with Circe, and his wishes had been stoked by seeing the ferocity of her reunion with J'onn after the battle ended. He wanted that affection for himself, not aimed at an alien who had already chosen a woman of his own.

Running into Princess Audrey had inflamed his resolution to take things to the next step, and now they were finally there.

He laid back among the pillows, Diana tucked along his side, her head resting on his chest, and he forced himself not to consider the timestream, forced himself to be a man, not a Mission.

He did not want to be that bitter old man, and of the women he had loved, Diana was the best match to him.

The only other person who would be strong enough to be safe...had chosen another, after all.

* * *

It had been an exhausting hour long interview, full of good things and bad, Lois decided. Diana, she had to admit, could be downright forthcoming with her answers, and expanded on them in words her readers could understand. This was a relief to a reporter who had handled people as devious as Lex Luthor and reclusive as Aquaman.

She looked back over her notes as she transcripted some of the recording. It all tallied up to a bright, shining hero with no feet of clay.

There was a bigger story buried under that facade, Lois knew. She stared at the one question that was making her reporter sense tingle over and over.

_"So how do you like dating Bruce Wayne, multimillionaire?"_

_"It's nice."_

For a woman who had gone into detail on a triangular commerce set up between the upper world, Atlantis, and Themiscrya, it seemed to terse an answer, and Lois wanted to know why.

* * *

"Clark..."

"Lois?"

"Tell me more about Bruce and his past associations with a teammate."

The reporting partners matched stares, the feminine one doggedly on the course of a story, and the masculine one showing panic. 

"I never said it was a teammate."

Lois tapped a pencil against her arm. "We are completely alone right now, Clark, and I want answers."

Clark shook his head, looking down for just a brief moment in guilt... and Lois's eyes widened.

"No...."

"What, Lois?"

"Smallville, if you expect me to believe..."

"I didn't say anything," he protested.

"Give me credit for some brains, Clark." She spun away to go worry this new development over, curious just how she had failed to pick up on Superman being _that_ way for Batman. There just wasn't any other logical explanation for Clark's look.

* * *

"Diana.... Princess, wait!"

Diana paused in her preparation to take to the air as Lois Lane flagged her attention down. She smiled graciously, and waited, letting the reporter catch up.

"A long way from Metropolis," Diana said.

"I was in town to cover the arrival of the athletes when I got tipped about the robbery." 

"Do you want a statement?" Diana asked politely.

"That, and a favor." Lois gave her a bedazzling smile.

"A favor?"

"Meet me for lunch, tomorrow, just to talk... completely off the record."

Diana looked confused by that, but the look on Lois's face intrigued her.

"Very well."

* * *

Superman settled to the floor of the cave and his shoulders slipped into the Clark level of not quite upright and straight.

Batman raised an eyebrow at the posture and the visit.

"Diana's in Metropolis?" Superman asked, half-hoping some emergency might have come up elsewhere.

"Lois invited her."

"We might regret this," Clark warned.

"Quite likely," Bruce agreed. He then shrugged, and the Bat settled firmly over his posture. "I don't have time to worry about it."

Clark could only stare after him as he left...before Superman was needed again.

Whatever the women talked about, it was bound to change things permanently.

* * *

Diana settled in the offered chair, and watched as Lois made drinks for them both before settling in the corner of the couch closest to the chair.

"Diana... I can call you that, right?"

"Of course, Lois," Diana said, a smile for the pretty woman gracing her lips.

It made the reporter's heart twist a little, that this capable, bold woman might be trapped in the wrong relationship.

"You know I know Bruce, right? As in really know who he is?" Lois could see no better way to broach the matter.

"Yes. He was drawn to you in some ways. But then he has a liking for people of strong wills and inner fire." Diana watched Lois, wondering where this was going.

Lois noted the gender neutral 'people' versus 'women', and wondered if Diana already knew. She studied the Amazon, and cocked her head to the side. "So you know you're not the first?"

Diana laughed softly. "Lois, Bruce gave up his claim on your mate some time ago."

"My mate?!" Lois squeaked, as the tables turned, leaving her scrambling for her wits.

* * *

Once Lois was calm enough to talk rationally, she and Diana shared notes on the situation. Lois, for her part, was angry with herself, furious with Clark, and more than a little hurt at Bruce.

She should have seen the truth. Both about Clark and between Superman and Batman.

Bruce never should have chosen a substitute, even if he and Diana really were good friends with a trace of love.

Somehow, with Diana's willing aid, this had to be rearranged with the right partners finding each other.

Diana's sly question if that meant she got to keep Lois made Lois's head spin again... before they were on their way to Gotham.

* * *

Batman was tired as he came in from a grueling patrol, but he was not so tired he did not miss the fact Diana was not alone in the Cave. 

"Lois. Diana."

"Bruce," the women chorused, with Diana making that slight smile she used when amused, and Lois shifting with pent up energy.

"I was not aware this was a social hour," he said, stripping his cowl back.

"I wasn't aware it was necessary to keep secrets from me," Lois countered. "I thought we were friends."

Bruce shook his head. "Which secrets? Lois, you're a reporter."

"But I'm a woman who damn near fell for you, and was skating on thin ice with the man you also wanted," she shot back, and now Diana had to hide a full-fledged smile, because Bruce looked rather cute when he was stunned.

"My personal relationships have been resolved," Bruce managed, looking at Diana for some kind of rope here.

"I hate to say it quite like this, Bruce, but I may have to leave you," Diana told him, voice gentle but still amused. "It would not be right of me to interfere with Aphrodite's designs in this matter."

Bruce's jaw just fell, because he had been convinced the Amazon and he were in a good relationship... but her wording left him wondering.

Of course, Superman coming into the Cave was only par for the course, before he could fully recover his wits.

* * *

Superman hovered, until Lois gave him a pointed look, and he settled, equidistant to the two ladies and Bruce.

"Clark," Lois said, and Superman actually swallowed nervously.

"Yes, Lois."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"I almost did, after the invasion," he admitted. "But..."

"Would you have told me if we had have been more serious in our dating?"

Bruce and Diana both just listened, knowing this had to get out of the way first.

"I think so..."

Lois rolled her eyes, and then looked at Bruce. "Ten points in your favor, pointy ears," she said with dripping sarcasm. Bruce just smirked, while Clark tried to salvage his dignity.

Diana didn't give him the chance.

* * *

"Lois and Clark are all but an icon of Metropolis. Bruce and I have been very handily making a stir in the social world as an item. These are both very convenient distractions, but they are not the truth of any of our hearts," Diana said. All three of the others in the room protested, in their own ways. Lois was vocal, Clark was stammering, and Bruce gave her a look.

She returned it, and he was the one to look away. 

"I propose the public remain culpable to the convenience of these perceptions," Diana said, with a hint of a warm smile. "Lois, you and Clark have prevented some Public Relation catastrophes. Bruce, you know how much I need access to the top echelons of America, if I am to have a true impact on the poor here. But that doesn't have to stop us from finding the pairing Aphrodite would grace us with, given discretion and wisdom."

"Are you saying, you and I sit back and let those two dance their own tango?" Lois demanded.

"Is it your heart or your ego talking?" Diana chided, and Lois subsided.

"Diana, that would be cheating," Clark started.

"No, it would be protecting our loved ones. You and Bruce would never pursue anything for fear of your two lives colliding. But you belong together. J'onn told me that years ago."

"Remind me to withhold the Chocos when he comes to visit," Bruce grumped, but she was making sense. "What about you and Lois?"

Diana favored him with a look again, and he had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from smiling. Of course the Amazon found the dynamic, intense, strong-willed reporter interesting. A glance to Lois told him she knew it, and had yet to decide how she felt beyond intimidated and intrigued.

"You have it all planned out?" Clark asked.

"It's love... no need to plan, beyond being careful to keep us all protected," Diana said simply. "We are all friends first, yes?"

Lois thought about it, and then nodded. "Why not try and see?"

That seemed to win the day, no matter how awkward it might have begun.


End file.
